Diaphragm sounder



Jan. 18, 1927.

K. WENZ DIAPHRAGM SOUNDER Filed Dec. 1, 1924 Fig.1

Patented Jan. 18, 1927.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

KARL WENZ, OF KIEL-HASSEE, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO FRIED. KBUPP GEBMANIA- WERFT AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, 0F KIEL-GAARDEN, GERMANY.

DIAPHRAGM' SOUNDER.

Application filed December 1, 1924, Serial No. 753,263, and in Germany December 1, 1923.

The invention relates to sounders acting by means of a diaphragm of the kind in which the supply pipe for the pressure medium leads through the casing of the sounder and ends on the centre of the diaphragm. When operated by ordinary compressed air, these diaphragm sounders will easily start at any time so exactly that,

forinstance, they may be used for giving Morse signals.

If, however, sounders of this kind have to be operated by a pressure ,medium the temperature of which is considerably higher than that of the atmosphere, for instance steam or hot waste gases, or is considerably lower, as carbonic acid for instance, then important difiiculties will occur. For,.upon a very hot pressure medium, as above mentioned, striking the metal parts generating the sound, that is the diaphragm, the casing and the mouth-piece, the following drawbacks will arise:

The diaphragm will be strongly heated at the outlet of the pressure medium, that is on its centre, and will expand at this spot more than at its edge where it is still in contact with the cold air. Thus a uniform expansion of the diaphragm cannot take place. The diaphragm will I consequentlyv get warped and will start very insufficiently in this state. Irregular and impure sounds will therefore be generated as long as the whole diaphragm has not yet reached the temperature of the pressure medium.

Further, the casing and the mouth-piece are likewise cold in the moment the sounder is started first and will, in their turn, con siderably cool the hot operating medium so that, by this reason too, any formation of sound will first not take place. This forma tion of sound begins only in the measure as '3 the casing and themouth-piece will gradually become heated. Besides, with steamoperated sounders a high condensing efi'ect will take place at the-spots where the steam strikes the cold walls of the casing and of the mouth-piece, whereby the sound-generating .vibrations are likewise hindered or retarded. Only after a certain time, that is,

when the sound-generating arts have be come heated also, clearer an purer sounds gradually will come. Before this moment a reliable signalling, for instance a-give-way signal on board of ships or on automobiles,

is impossible, much less, of course, a Morse signalling.

Now the invention has for its-object to obviate these drawbacks and attains this sub stantially by the fact that the sound-generating parts of the'sounder are permanently kept at the temperature of the pressure medium, by means of this medium itself or by a special heating (or cooling) device.

In the drawing is illustrated an embodiment of the subject-matter of the invention byway of example.

Fig. 1 showing a steam-operated diaphragm sounder arranged on the chimney of a ship, in elevation, partly in section,

Figs. 2 and 3 showing in enlarged scale two difi'erent embodiments of they diaphragm-plates used:

Figs. 4 and '5 show a second embodiment of the sounder by twolongitudinal sections normal to one another.

The embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 3 will be described first, this embodiment being the annular screw cap fixing the diaphragm to the casing A, is connected, accordin to the invention, a hollow chamber E w ich shows openings e, e for supplying and leading-off a heating or cooling medium. In practice the sounder may be fixed for instance on the chimney G of a ship b means of an angle sheet metal plate F. steam supply pi c J is connected to the tube portion D o the casing A, a steam throttling throttling valve H, by means of which cord ,said' valve may be opened and the sounder opening e of the heating chamber E. To the 1 valve H being rovidecl in this pipe J. A cord K which eads to the bri e of the ship is fixed to a double lever 1 of the lower openin 6 is connected an outlet pipe- M which lea s the steam to a condenser or into the atmosphere.

As inthis manner a small quantity of steam permanently flows through the chamber E, this chamber always remains hot and heats the diaphragm B by radiation. 1t a signal is given by the above-described sounder, the hot steam will strike always a sufficiently warm diaphragm even in case the sounder has not been uscdla long time, so that the drawbacks hereinbefore mentioned relative to the diaphragm will not occur. The diaphragm of a sounder of this construction Wlll always start m a very satisfylng manner and a fallure in signallmg is excluded.

In order to counteract the cooling effect of the mouth-piece, I the diaphragm itself may be equipped with means which prevent a delivery of heat from the heated diaphragm to the cold air contained in the casing A. With the diaphragm shown in Fig. 2 which is composed in a well-known manner of two lamels connected by a rivet, this heat protection is obtained by an annular groove N provided in the outer lamel and including an insulating air layer, whilst with the diaphragm of Fig. 3 the two lamels .have before them a layer of asbestos O by the fact that instead of the diaphragm "the mouth-piece of the sounder is able to be heated directly b steam. This form of execution may be a vantageously made use of where the differences in temperature are great, for, instance with, locomotives and ships. The mouth-piece Got this sounder is surrounded by a wall C which also includes the diaphragm casing A. The casing A, mouth-pieceC and wall C form together a cast metal piecehaving a hollow space R which forms a heating chamber. A pipe-J connected by afiange i to the Wall O supplies the steam from the boiler to the heating chamber R, an angle sheet metal piece F fixing the sounder to its carrier, being interposed between said flange and pipe. A branch 0 is provided on the heating chamber R from which a pipe M leads to a condenser (not shown).

The interior of the supply passa e Dis connected to the heating chamber by 9.

valve H the needle of which outwardly projects beyond the casing wall. In the state of rest the valve H is kept closedby a spring. S and can be opened by meansof a lever 11 and a rod K. Between the cover E and the diaphragm B is provided an air-filled insulating space.

The supply pipe J and the heating chamber R are permanently filled with steam. The condensing water is led-off through the pipe Mthe sectional area'of which is chosen so as to take the water only, but no steam.

' When a signal has to be given, the valve H is opened by means of the lever h and the rod K. Steam will then stream from the upper portion of the heating chamber B into the supply passage D and strike the diaphragm B, this latter being therebyset in vibration in the well-known manner. The steam then escapes, as indicated by arrows, at the edge of the supply passage D through the mouth-piece C.

The steam contained in the heating chamber R transmits its heat directly to the mouth-piece C, the supply-passage D and to the casing A and, by transmission and radia-- tion also to the diaphragm B. All the sound-generating parts thus being permanently kept at the temperature of the steam, the diaphragm will at once start upon opening the valve H, accurately as in the case of using compressed air, and the sounder will give from the beginning clear sounds adapted for Morse signals.

In order to attain a still more efiective heating (or cooling) the heating -of the mouth-piece according to Figs. 4 and 5 may of course be combined with the cover heating according to Fig. 1. Instead of heating by means of the pressure medium an independent heating may be made use of, for instance by means of an .electricheater or the like- Claims. i

1. In adiaphragm sounder operated by a pressure medium differing in temperature from the temperature of the atmosphere in which the sounder is exposed, means for maintaining the diaphragm of said sounder at substantially the temperature of said pres sure medium irrespective of the operative contact of the latter therewith.

I 2. In a diaphragm sounder operated by a pressure medium difiering in temperature from the temperature of the atmosphere in which the sounder is exposed, means for maintaining the sound-generating parts of .said sounder at substantially the temperature of said pressure medium when the sounder is out of operation.

3. In a diaphragm sounder operated by a pressure medium difiering in temperature from the temperature of the atmosphere in which the sounder is exposed. means for utilizing the pressure medium for maintaining the diaphragm of said sounder at substan tially the temperature of said pressure medium irrespective of the operative contact of the latter therewith.

4. In a diaphragm sounder -operated by a pressure medium differing in temperature from the temperature of the atmosphere in atmosphere, a chamber surrounding said which the sounder is exposed. means for utilizing the pressure medium for maintaining the sound-generating parts at substantially the temperature of the pressure medium when the sounder is out of operation.

5. In a diaphragm sounder having a mouth-piece and operated by a pressure medium differing in temperature from the atmosphere, a chamber surrounding said mouth-piece and a pipe supplying the pressure medium to said chamber.

6. In a diaphragm sounder having a mouth-piece and operated by a pressure medium diflering in temperature from the 7. In a diaphragm sounder having means for keeping the inner face of the diaphragm hot, a diaphragm having an insulating air chamber intermediate its faces.

8. In a dia hragm sounder operated by a pressure me ium differing in temperature from the atmosphere and the sound-generatingspaits of which are permanently kept on the temperature of said pressure medium, a diaphragm composed of two superimposed lamels one of w ich .has an annular groove, towards the other lamel, forming an insulating air chamber.

The fore oing specification signed at Hamburg, (ir ermany, this 12th day of November, 1924.

- KARL 

